Former Liverpool defender Stephane Henchoz has spoken out against making Granit Xhaka captain of Switzerland, because of the Arsenal player’s Albanian descent.

Speaking to Blick about the captaincy, Henchoz responded to the possibility of Xhaka taking over as number one captain once Stephan Lichtsteiner eventually retires from international football.

“This would be a real problem,” he said. “He’s a regular player at Arsenal, but I think a captain must represent Switzerland and the team. Xhaka doesn’t.

“Players like (Yann) Sommer, Lichtsteiner or (Fabian) Schar, who represent traditional Switzerland, could feel excluded, just like fans who might not be able to identify with the team. 

“The Swiss players without a migration background and Swiss fans, they would feel marginalised.”

Presumably when Henchoz says ‘traditional Switzerland’ he means to exclude any players who don’t have entirely Swiss-based ancestry. Just like Sommer, Lichtsteiner and Schar, Xhaka was born and raised in Switzerland; the only difference is he doesn’t have Swiss parents.

Under normal circumstances, the comments would simply be considered discrimination against any Swiss citizens with migrant backgrounds. After Xhaka’s double-headed eagle celebration at the World Cup though, the media seem to have decided these sorts of comments are acceptable.

The idea that Swiss fans without migrant backgrounds would feel marginalised is the most laughable part of all.

Those supporters will live their entire lives without having to deal with discrimination on the basis of their background, but will feel marginalised because Granit Xhaka is the captain of Switzerland?

Henchoz’s comments are a bad joke, and shouldn’t be taken seriously by anyone, least of all Xhaka and Swiss manager Vladimir Petkovic. Hopefully they both ignore the 43-year-old completely.